"What we call "MS" might refer to no actual kind in the world." -Nat, Maria's husband

Nat
and Maria are a charming and intellectual couple, and each conversation
I have with them makes my head hurt (in the best possible way). Maria
was diagnosed in 2008 after a frightening roller coaster that left her,
at various times: near-comatose, in a wheelchair, incorrectly diagnosed
and victimized by the system. These experiences remind them there is
much more to a disease than just its symptoms.

Maria
chose Georgetown's venerated Dahlgren Memorial Library* to symbolize ‘knowledge is power’. Nat also earned his
PH.D there, specializing in epistemology (theory of knowledge) and
philosophy of language. MS, and its spectrum of curve balls and
uncertainties, is a unique experiment for a philosopher and, I
suspect, a way to psychologically manage its horrors. Nat is compelled
by the power of naming in science, and what it might unlock about the
nature of disease. This conversation, about what we know about the term
“Multiple Sclerosis”, led me to medical anthropologists who helped me
understand exactly how we arrive at a word, and how important that
process is.

Maria
believes knowledge puts her in control, and she is participating in
this project to provide comfort and testimony that with trust in
medicine and a clear sense of self-advocacy, we have weapons. Their
portrait was shot in the Neurological Disorders section of the greatest
medical library in the United States. Outside, we sat in the library’s
prided pharmaceutical garden- a marvelous and actually functional world merging
nature, science and the spirit of discovery.

*I almost got kicked out by security before they showed up, but I'll include that in the book.